210
97MA
PII: S0165-0203(97)00001-9
1997 Unncd Nations Published by Liscvicr Science Lie
All rights reserved- Primed in Great Briuir.
0165-0203/97 SI7 00-•-0 00
Management of transboundary water
resources for water security;
principles, approaches and State
practice
L/BRARY IRC
PO Box 93190, 2509 AD THE
™"+31 70 30 689 80
Bo Appelgren and Wulf Klohn1
Increasing water scarcity and stress are leading many nations to securing supplies for present and
future water uses. National objectives are more and more pointed towards water security and the close
links with food security and other macro-economic and sectoral aspects. Water security is seen as an
important aspect of national and regional security and international positions on water often have a
political dimension that reflects broader national objectives. Available options for sharing
transhoundary resources are established on the basis of general legal principles such as equitable
utilization and absence of appreciable harmful transboundary effects downstream and others such as
established historical utilization. These principles and doctrines must be fully understood by the
advisers serving on the negotiating teams of international water treaties and agreements. From these
perspectives, the paper recognizes the importance of the structural and strategic uncertainty in
international relations. Co-ordination or harmonization of national policy, as an integrated part of,
and administrated under existing frameworks for, regional co-operation are proposed as realistic,
efficient and practicable approaches, alternative to more intensive co-operation and complicated
planning and coordinating mechanisms. The article also highlights the need for training of legal
specialists in countries which contemplate negotiating or re-negotiating water treaties or agreements.
© 1997 United Nations. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd
Water scarcity is the result of pressures stemming
from population growth, environmental change, and
a state of degradation and unequal distribution of
and access to water resources (Appelgren, 1996). As
competition for limited supplies increases, conflicts
among water users at local, national and regional
level intensify. Water scarcity and resultant conflicts
are often the consequence of inadequate management
capacity at national level. Management approaches,
to be effective, need to address political and social
aspects of water based on regional geo-political
realities.
As domestic water resources are being exhausted,
shared, transboundary water resources and water
importation become realities in the management of
water scarcity situations. Water imports do not
necessarily mean physical water; the term "virtual
water" was coined to account for the amounts of water
saved by importing mainly food and other water
demanding products and thus avoiding consumptive
use of water in agriculture in a hypothetical food selfsufficiency situation.
Efficient management of transboundary resources is
hampered by factors such as the variability and
uncertainty of supplies. Moreover, individual countries
have clear incentives to capture and use the resource
before it goes beyond their hydraulic or political
control, while in a situation of scarcity there are no
immediately rewarding incentives to conserve supplies
for users beyond the national borders. In regions
without political conflict and well defined frameworks
for co-operation, sights would be set wide, to address
the ultimate purposes in a regional context securing
economic development, food security, public health
and the preservation of ecosystems. However, many
countries still define strategic security and national
borders as the basic means to secure access and control
of water supplies. In this context, water management
Bo Appelgren is with the Land and Water Development Division.
FAO, Via delle Terme de Caracalla, Rome, Italy.
Wulf Klohn is with the Land and Water Development Division, FAO.
Via delle Terme de Caracalla, Rome. Italy.
'The positions and opinions presented are those of the authors and do
not represent in any context the views of the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations.
91
Jiio-j?
92
Management of transboundary water resources: B. Appelgren and W. Klolm
could be seen as a tool for aggression instead of a tool
that would stimulate regional co-operation.
To secure long-term access to water, it would be in
the interest of individual countries to adopt an
attitude of regional responsibility and revise longstanding national political positions on water
sovereignty. National decision-making is however an
iterative process subject to uncertainty. Stable
solutions, especially in developing and transition
economies, can be achieved only by searching and
finding what can be accepted as reasonable and
equitable by the parties concerned. The alternative
approach in situations of national conflict is to link
water to economic policy and to search for agreeable
solutions seeking assistance of independent mediators
from third party countries.
National and regional water security
An effective approach to managing water scarcity needs
to be balanced with the capacity of national economies
and institutions, with due recognition given to longestablished political positions of States. Developed
economies have the economic potential to adapt to
water scarcity. Developing economies are, however,
generally constrained by high population growths and
might not have the necessary capacity and economic
diversity. Many of the current and potential water
conflicts in the world take place between developing
countries. The long time delays required to establish
national management capacity in developing countries
raises a question of urgency.
In the absence of a comprehensive international law
on water, existing legal principles and frameworks for
international water sharing devolve and draw from
State practice, and deal with political realities along
with accepted legal principles. International law has to
meet a minimum level of generality while the challenge
is to handle a wide variety of specific issues and
conflicts between countries of different cultures, at
different political and economic development levels and
with varying institutional and manpower capacity.
Countries establish strategic positions for negotiations;
weaknesses and shortcomings in management capacity
are often reinforced by taking rigid political stands.
The weakness of developing countries often results in
poor governance with centralized decision-making,
delayed decision-making, or no decision-making at all.
Some developing countries that have recently emerged
from colonial to independent rule are still subject to
the consequences of international agreements adopted
by the old regimes. In such countries, national
positions are often established under conditions of
structural and strategic uncertainty.
Attempts have been made
water policy (UN-CSD, 1997)
to cope measured on the basis
of water stress, based on the
water available.
This grouping results in four
to group countries for
based on their capacity
of income, and in terms
ratio of water used to
categories of countries.
• low income, low stress countries
• low income, high stress countries
• high income, low stress countries
• high income, high stress countries
The most vulnerable category is, of course, the low
income high stress countries. As transboundary rivers
often cross countries belonging to different categories,
there is the case for improved basin efficiency and
equity and the need for wider recognition of national
issues and for bringing the capacity of the parties on
parity to facilitate water-sharing negotiations.
With limited capacity to cope, water scarcity becomes
a threat to both national and regional security and
could contribute to economic failure in weak
developing countries and regions. Decision-makers, in
addressing social and economic impacts of water
scarcity, need to carefully balance the requirements for
national development on one hand and the benefits of
regional co-operation and friendly relations and trade
with neighbours, on the other.
Water and food security
As a result of increasing demands, the global food gap is
widening while weak, food-deficit economies are facing
increasing difficulties in buying food. At present, 2400
million people depend on irrigated agriculture for jobs,
food and income. Over the next 30 years, an estimated
80% of the additional food supplies required to feed
the world will depend on irrigation, and will, to a large
extent, use transboundary water resources (FAO,
1996). Thus, national and regional water and food
security are becoming closely related to water security
and depend not only on water-sharing but. to a high
degree, on international food trade. Without access to
food through trade due to such reasons as weak
economies or trade embargos, countries will resort to
ensure food self-sufficiency. Even where it is known
that national food self-sufficiency is not economically
efficient, this policy leads to increasing and often in
many cases conflicting national demands for
transboundary water resources.
Co-ordination of national policies: a process in
uncertainty
It has been proposed, as a means of resolving
international water sharing issues, to assign monetary
values, reflecting scarcity, to the disputed water
(Anon., 1994). With this approach, optimal social
allocation of water between and among states would be
achieved and contentious water issues could be settled
through modest compensations—economists have
estimated the value in dispute over water in the Near
East to less than US$110 million per year (The
Economist, December 1995-January 1996). This and
similar microeconomic constructs have proven to be
simplistic and tend to disregard that, unlike oil, water
is not always a commodity that can be traded freely.
Water has no substitute for certain uses such as
drinking,
hygiene
and
industrial
processes.
Consequently, there are many market distortions and
considerable uncertainty, while the financial and
Management uj traiisuuunaary water resources: ts. Appelgren ana n . t\lonn
human capacity to deal with the given situation may be
limited. In an international perspective, in contrast to
the national and local level, the value-in-use of water is
based on positions of national sovereignty and longterm strategic interests, rather than on narrowly
calculated economic benefits. Even the poorest nations
are therefore not likely to be motivated to change longstanding positions for financial compensation and will
remain reluctant to compromise with issues related to
national water security. As evidenced from recent
successful regional initiatives, such as the Protocol on
Shared Watercourse Systems in the Southern African
Development Community (SADC), mentioned below,
wider recognition at national political level of the
regional aspects of water management as part of
regional economic co-operation suggests a promising
option for solving the problems of sharing
transboundary water resources.
Management of transboundary water resources is
founded on decisions of neighbouring governments,
which are often unequal in power and influence. Coordination and co-operation meet with difficulties, such
as disagreements on initial positions and future
scenarios, priorities, appropriate
implementation
mechanisms, compounded by the lack of mutual trust.
As a result, national positions are taken within a high
degree of uncertainty. One option to reduce risks
would be to accept water as a national issue, based on
national concerns, and focus on international
harmonization of national policies rather than
prescriptions inspired by strict adherence to legal
principles.
Benefits
from
co-ordination
and
harmonization across the boundaries improve when the
level of strategic uncertainty on issues such as
preferences, trustworthiness, and data is low.
Harmonization of domestic policies will not only
address undesirable externalities but also reduces
strategic uncertainty for the parties participating in
international
negotiations
(Netanyahu,
1996).
Conversely, approaches that overly emphasize coordination introduce new incentives to deviate from
agreements and may therefore have an unstabilizing
effect, especially when the level of mutual trust and
confidence is low.
Treaty-making for co-operation: capacity-building in
aid of treaty-making
The legal principles for the management, development
and protection of water resources shared by two or
more countries have been authoritatively laid down
elsewhere and need not be repeated here. Success
stories of treaty-making for co-operation between or
among countries sharing water resources show that a
key facilitating role is played by confidence and mutual
trust among treaty negotiators, including, in particular,
the advisers to the governments engaged in the
negotiations. Confidence is present only when the
concerned negotiators feel they are dealing with each
other from a position of parity, among peers who can
all master complex issues from their respective
professional angle. This is particularly true of legal
advisers, who must be fully conversant with the tenets
of public international water resources law and with
the domestic law and administration of water resources
in their own respective countries. Arguably, peer
confidence among the lawyers involved has been at
play in forging lasting treaties and agreements among
countries in all continents, not only between and
among developed nations but also between and among
developing ones.
In situations of disparity, when a transboundary
water basin is common to countries in different stages
of development, there lies an opportunity for the
international donor community to redress the
imbalance by building capacity in concerned countries
in the specialized legal disciplines called for by complex
negotiations over shared water. For example, the
negotiations which resulted in the 1995 Agreement on
the Co-operation for the Sustainable Development of
the Mekong River Basin were based on build-up of
confidence and mutual trust among a core group of
government legal officials from Cambodia, Laos,
Thailand and Vietnam. This is also the approach and
thrust of on-going efforts by the international donor
community to foster co-operation among the countries
sharing the Nile Basin.
A solid knowledge of principles, doctrines and tenets
of international water resources law and of one's own
country's domestic legislation and administration of
water resources are therefore an indispensable adjunct
to successful, peer-style treaty negotiations. Where such
knowledge and the confidence that comes with it are
not evenly possessed by the negotiating teams, either
negotiations fail or they yield unbalanced results. The
international
donor
and
technical
assistance
community has a key role to play in assisting the
countries concerned to build up a core of legal
specialists trained in, and conversant with, the legal
disciplines called for by treaty-making for the
management, development and protection of water
resources shared by two or more countries.
Cases: management of international water courses
The cases presented and compared below aim at
presenting the diversity of issues and difficulties in the
management of transboundary water courses. They
demonstrate the need for trade-offs between individual
countries and between short and longer term economic
and political gains and losses of nations, on one hand,
and regional political security and environmental and
inter-generational sustainability, on the other. To build
an environment of mutual trust and confidence
between countries and to bridge gaps in the skill of
management and negotiating capacity at the country
level represent the two major challenges.
The Nile Basin and Lake Victoria
Egypt, a relatively more developed, highly arid
downstream state, depends fully on the Nile river
(Figure 1) for its water and food security, and has used
these waters since pre-historic times. More recently the
country has installed reservoirs to regulate inflows to
94
Management of transboundary water resources: B. Appelgren and W. Klohn
Mediterranean Sea
CENTRAL
AFRICAN
REPUBLIC
Lake Mobi/ru/)
ZAIRE
V
<^^>i.a*e Kyoga
4
RWANDA-ft— ^
BURDNDI-V- / '
0
200
400 km
\ /
Figure 1 The Nile Basin. The Nile Basin is divided into the Blue Nile, the White Nile and the Atbara sub-basins. The Nile
Basin, one of the major river basins in the world with an area of 2 900000 km 2 , is shared by nine sovereign countries. Note:
This figure was considered appropriate at the time of its preparation and does not imply the expression of any opinion
whatsoever concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or concerning the delineation of frontiers or
boundaries.
secure water supplies, and taken steps to increase
cropping intensity, but is, with a growing population
and socio-economic growth, increasingly water stressed.
For this nearly rainless country, it can be shown that all
the water of the Nile may, in an average year, produce
food for only less than half the country's population,
and the country therefore necessitates large food
imports. The importation of food
represents
importation of the "virtual" water that the country
would have required to produce the food itself.
Most of the factors cited as the basis for water use of
international rivers in the Helsinki rules (ILA, 1966),
such as total and irrigable land area, hydrology, past
and present utilization, economic and social needs,
among others, can be objectively measured and remain
fairly invariant. The populations of the countries in the
Nile basin, a basic parameter for planning and
allocation of scarce international water resources, are
however growing rapidly, although at a different rate,
in the individual countries. Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia,
I .-.••
rfn the Blue Nile, Sobat and Atbara, with over 80% of
the Nile water resources, had a joint population of 117
million people in 1987. This population is projected to
grow to 160-170 million by the year 2000. The present
population of Egypt is 10% larger than that of
Ethiopia; it is projected that by 2025, Ethiopia will
have 25% more people than Egypt.
In spite of the population changes in the basin. Egypt
pursues a status quo position of fixed or increased
inflows, as provided in the bilateral 1959 Egypt-Sudan
Nile treaty, while Ethiopia reportedly has plans to
construct dams on Nile tributaries in its territory.
These dams may be financed from international loans
which might become available in anticipation of
amendments under the water section in international
law, especially in relation to historical rights.
The transboundary White Nile waters are gathered
in five upstream sovereign states. Most of these
countries became independent in the 1960s. Several
of the upstream countries have severe food security
problems compounded by poverty and have relatively
less ability to buy food than Egypt. All countries
claim that water resources development is the major
option for socio-economic development and food
security at national and sub-regional level. Some of
the upstream food-short countries have large land
resources in semi-arid regions which need to be used
for long term food security. This would entail large
consumptive uses and interbasin transfers, reducing
the basin resources and depriving downstream
countries of uses of the return flows in the Nile
Basin. This could lead to escalation in competition
and conflict over the transboundary waters.
Lake Victoria, a sub-basin in the Nile, represents an
example of a multi-layered situation. In the perspective
of the downstream countries, the lake is a reservoir of
water for irrigation. In the closer perspective of the
riparian countries, it is a source of food, transportation
infrastructure, a sink for waste and as an emerging
regional issue, an important regional supply of
hydroelectricity. The scope for management is
formidable and co-ordination needs to be well-focused
on specific subjects involving countries whose interests
can be common or conflicting. Costly technological
and institutional approaches such as comprehensive
integrated basin planning and large and widely
mandated river basin organizations have generally
failed and need to give way to decision-making based
on pragmatic and issue-focused incremental planning.
Basin management at different levels was reflected in
three institutional options put forward for Lake
Victoria Co-operation (FAO, 1995):
• a multiple management function with a permanent
secretariat;
• a multiple management function within the existing
East African Co-operation Agreement;
• a management function with an existing subsectororiented organization—The Lake Victoria Fisheries
Organization.
Only the second alternative would be supported by an
established regional authority and be free from
sectoral bias. From the experience in other basins,
the first alternative has in general proven to be costly
and non-sustainable. In the real-world situation,
however, the final choice will depend on strategic
political positions and the resources available from
countries and donors.
The Nile and the Euphrates-Tigris, a comparison
The Euphrates (Figure 2), in comparison with the Nile,
shows a reverse situation, with a relatively strong
upstream economy within the territory where a major
share of the waters gather. Upstream diversion,
pollution and salinization of the river resources is
perceived negatively by the affected downstream States.
In all basins, upstream countries have obvious
advantages; however, upstream diversions and
development have taken place only on the Euphrates,
while in the case of the Nile, the downstream countries
are the most established water users. In both basins,
there is a need to co-operate for the protection of
catchment areas. While there are no treaties on the
Euphrates, the water sharing issues in the Nile are
subject to existing bilateral treaties and agreements
required under international law. For the Euphrates,
bilateral and tripartite meetings have been carried out
since the mid-1960s, resulting in a number of
agreements on guaranteed international flows, but the
dialogue has not been sustained in recent years. As in
the case of the Nile, the water resources of the
Euphrates and Tigris could be enhanced and made
available to all riparian countries, if a situation of trust
and collaboration were established.
Southern Africa—Slate practice and co-operation in the
SADC region (Figure 3)
Most significant water resources in the SADC countries
are shared. This situation highlights the regional
ramifications of water scarcity, with many national and
supranational issues and potential conflicts as well as
clear-cut bilateral water-sharing issues associated with
the management of the resources and major water
transfers between river basins and countries.
The co-operation between Lesotho and South Africa
under the Lesotho Highlands Water Project will, when
implemented fully, supply the most industrialized region
of South Africa with 30 cubic metres per second (m3/s)
and provide Lesotho with all the electricity it needs. The
transferred water is sold to South Africa at an economic
price established at 56% of the savings to South Africa,
when compared with the next-cheapest supply.
Sharing of the water resources of the Lower Orange
River between Namibia and South Africa represents a
case of efficient co-ordination, initiated while both
countries where parts of the Union of South Africa.
The mutual trust and confidence between the two
governments, also after Namibia's independence in
1990, allowed for harmonized national water policies
and efficient allocation, balanced in time and in phase
with the planned socio-economic development and the
water demands in the two countries. The proposed
arrangements could provide for South Africa to
continue to utilize the scarce water resources for
Management oj transboundary water resources: B. Appelgren and W. Klohn
Black Sea
TURKEY
Figure 2 The Euphrates-Tigris Basin. The Euphrates and the Tigris flow within the same basin with the two watercourses
joining before spilling into the Persian Gulf. The average flow of the Tigris, with a smaller catchment area, 258 000 km2. is
about 50000 Mm 3 per annum, or close to double that of the Euphrates, 29 000 Mm3, with a catchment of 444 000knr. A
technically and economically viable solution to water scarcity in the Euphrates would be water transfers from the Tigris to the
Euphrates. It can be expected, however, that the geo-political situation in the basin will for some time constrain such joint
undertakings. Note: the figure is that considered appropriate at the time of its preparation and does not imply the expression
of any opinion whatsoever concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or an area, or concerning the delineation
of frontiers or boundaries.
mining uses for a few decades, after which the mineral
resources will be depleted and Namibia will be able to
use the resources for growing domestic demands for
socio-economic development and to replace and
complement the limited ground water resources.
Within the same SADC region, the Inkomati river
(Figure 4) is shared between Mozambique, South Africa
and Swaziland. Mozambique, a downstream country
which depends on the upstream countries for more than
half of its water supplies, is part of a tripartite
agreement established during colonial rule, but has not,
during more than a decade of civil war, been able to
participate in the Inkomati co-operation. More recently,
South Africa and Swaziland have reached an agreement
and established a plan for joint bilateral development of
the Komati sub-basin. The plan was initiated during the
apartheid government in South Africa and provides for
joint water resources development and sharing of high
and low assurance water. The agreement recognizes the
Helsinki Rules and the rights of Mozambique. A major
share of the scarce water is allocated to South Africa
and the agreement endorses the existing water transfers
out of the basin for use in South Africa. With
Mozambique coming back on the stage there may be
need to again look at these arrangements in light of the
larger context of the Inkomati Basin. In a general
perspective of changing environments, there exists a
body of opinions among international water jurists, that
"unequal treaties", i.e. treaties which lack reciprocity or
consideration, are invalid (Caponera, 1959); this
proposes an option towards more flexibility and
adaptation to change.
The Cunene River (Figure 5), shared between Angola
and Namibia, originates in and has about 87% of its
catchment area in Angola. With scarce and unreliable
domestic water resources, the Cunene and other
international perennial rivers are of critical importance
to Namibia. Several interdependent dam reservoirs and
hydropower installations in Angola, planned and built
during colonial rule in the 1970s, remain either
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
LESOTHO
INDIAN OCEAN
Figure 3 Water course systems in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The recent changes including
independence of Namibia in 1990, establishment of a democratic system in South Africa in 1994, and the process of peace in
Angola and Mozambique have created the environment for collaboration in the SADC region. A protocol for cooperation
and coordinated utilization of shared water systems, and the establishment of river basin institutions, was signed in 1995 by
the eleven countries in the region. Note: the figure is that considered appropriate at the time of its preparation and does not
imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or an area, or
concerning the delineation of frontiers or boundaries.
unfinished or with limited utilization. However, with
growing demands for power and diversions in
Namibia, related to a rapidly growing regional power
market, a new hydro dam is being planned in the lower
stretches of the river. Although a second water use
agreement was reached in 1969, it was only in 1990,
when Namibia gained independence from South
Africa, that it was possible to arrive at a bilateral
agreement with Angola for joint utilization and
development of the Cunene (Heyns, 1996). Difficulties
in understanding set rules in international agreements,
as political environments changed and new and more
comprehensive information became available, have
caused problems and delays in reaching agreements
and developing the shared water resources. Such delays
in development are hardly affordable in the current
situation of water scarcity.
The SADC region represents a variety of cases in a
common situation of newly independent states and
changing governments. It is of wider interest to follow
the evolution of how the new governments in South
Africa and Namibia and in States, such as
Mozambique and Angola, that have experienced
extended periods of civil war, will respond to the water
sharing issues in the region. Also other SADC
countries, in particular Botswana and Zimbabwe, are
becoming increasingly water scarce and the region will
depend not only on shared water resources and
possible interbasin transfers but will need to co-operate
on large joint water transfer projects. They may
possibly agree on a common agricultural policy
adapted to the water scarcity in many, but not all, of
the countries in the region. The 1995 protocol for
shared water systems within the SADC region forms a
promising regional initiative for
management,
development and utilization of the shared basins, that
covers provisions on utilization of shared resources and
institutions for river basin management. Management
of shared water resources, based on harmonization of
national policy within the context of regional cooperation is also being considered in other regions, for
example, in the isthmus of Central America under the
auspices of the Regional Parliament, and could offer a
model for a wider Nile co-operation.
Danube Basin: changing environment for regional cooperation
The Danube (Figure 6), is the largest river basin in
Europe with close to 90 million people depending on
98
oj irun.tDuiinani > nuici i\-.wi,
River
REPUBLIC OF
SOUTH AFRICA
Figure 4 The Upper Inkomati Basin. The Inkomati Basin is shared between Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland, and
regulated under a tripartite agreement. The Komati sub-basin, on the other hand, is shared between South Africa and Swaziland
under a more recent treaty and managed and developed jointly by the Komati Basin Water Authority. Note: the figure is that
considered appropriate at the time of its preparation and does not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever concerning the
legal status of any country, territory, city or an area, or concerning the delineation of frontiers or boundaries.
HuamboAtlantic Ocean
enUrged £*. ftf
16°
18'
Figure 5 The Cunene Basin. The Cunene Basin covers about 107 000km 2 of which 93000km 2 is in Angola and 14000km 2 in
Namibia. The water resources development for water supply to northern Namibia and for hydropower, as the Matala Dam in
1952 and 1958, the Gove Dam in 1973, and the unfinished Calueque Dam, commenced in 1973, has been implemented within
the framework of international agreements and institutional arrangements, which have evolved from the Berlin conference in
1885, agreements between the colonial power Portugal and South Africa in 1926, a water use agreement in 1969, and most
recently the 1990 Agreement, shortly after the independence of Namibia. Note: the figure is that considered appropriate at the
time of its preparation and does not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever concerning the legal status of any
country, territory, city or an area, or concerning the delineation of frontiers or boundaries.
.Management oj iransDuunaury water resources; a.
ana n . I\KJI,I,
Figure 6 The Danube Basin. The Danube, the largest river basin in Europe with a catchment area of about 817 000 km2 ,
forms an important resource for different uses including drinking-water, transportation, irrigation, industry and energy,
fisheries and waste disposal. The Danube has 10 riparian States the main course, while the basin is shared by 17 States.
The management of the Danube dates back to the Treaty of Paris of 1856 and covers the post-World War II period
with its East-West conflict, followed by the present transition of Eastern and Central Europe to open democratic
systems and market economies. The river basin institutions, with an early focus on navigation, have changed in the last
decade to address issues of increasing upstream and downstream interdependence, of the degrading environmental
quality of the river. Note: the figure is that considered appropriate at the time of its preparation and does not imply the
expression of any opinion whatsoever concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or an area, or
concerning the delineation of frontiers or boundaries.
the shared water resource (Appelgren and Burchi,
1995). With competing water uses, including drinking
wat&r, transportation, irrigation, industry, energy,
fisheries and waste disposal, the water resources are
becoming increasingly scarce. The basin is shared
between 17 States of which 10 are riparians to the main
river course, representing upstream the industrialized
and more wealthy countries, and downstream the
economies in transition. The Danube co-operation
dates back to the Treaty of Paris of 1856, with an early
focus on free navigation, but had declined during the
years of centrally planned economies. While the
breaking up of the communist block, with the
transition of Eastern and Central Europe to democratic
rule and market economies, created a better climate for
co-operation, this has been hampered by ethnic conflict
and economic difficulties in some of the ex-socialist
states, and by diverging upstream and downstream
interests. As a result of the political transition in the
region and the lack of co-ordination between the
western and eastern countries in the past, earlier
treaties have been challenged resulting in major
conflicts, such as the Gabcikovo/Nagymaros scheme
that has been bitterly disputed not only between
Hungary and Slovakia but also between politicians,
water engineers and environmentalists.
However, as the new economies emerge and
expand, national positions may become more
accommodating to the prospects of Danube and
European co-operation. The earlier co-operation,
focused on navigation, is being expanded to cover
the more complicated issues of water management
and environmental protection. Given the general lack
of political clout of the river basin institutions, and
the limited institutional and economic capacity of the
downstream countries, it can be questioned whether
these objectives can be realized. Promising progress
can be seen in this more intensified co-operation,
which can be attributed to the approach focused on
harmonization of national policy planning and
ultimately, the scope for integrating the Danube
under the regional agenda of Europe. While the 1994
Danube River Protection Convention is limited in
capacity to avoiding and resolving disputes similar to
the Gabcikovo/Nagymaros case, it reflects a
participatory approach that is well endorsed at
national political level. The Convention is therefore a
valuable reference as it reflects the consensus and just
how far the diverse riparian States are prepared to go
in relation to the different co-operation options. The
possibility and limitations for a more intense cooperation in the future needs to be judged from the
success and the impact of these features of the
Danube Convention.
Lower Colorado: water conflict and international
goodwill
The often quoted settlement reached between the
U.S.A. and Mexico on the water conflict from
increased salinity in the downstream, Mexican parts of
the Colorado River is an example of a straightforward
solution, which found a balance between the different
interests of the parties and the gaps in national
economic and institutional capacities. The U.S., as the
stronger economy, was interested to promote regional
co-operation and relations to maintain a favourable
international image and to settle a long story of
uj ii jiuouuiiuury
wuici rciuurces: h. Appelgren and M . Klolin
•Jontemtious issues over the Colorado water resources.
As a result the U.S.A., faced with domestic realities
which limited the options to act at the level of the
sources of salinity, assumed the costs for desalination
of the Colorado water, before it enters Mexico—a high
cost, uneconomic solution which trades financial
contributions and economic costs for international
goodwill. Mexico, on the other hand, would receive
water of suitable quality to meet domestic and
agricultural demands, however at some political or
diplomatic cost.
Conclusions
While the traditional approaches to water management
could work within the boundaries of well established
jurisdictions, international water issues are not always
well known and understood at the domestic level.
Regional or basin-wide political systems are generally
weaker and less well established as well as more distant
from the societies than national and local mechanisms.
A major challenge is therefore to bring management of
transboundary
water
resources
for
regional
development and stability onto the national political
agenda of individual countries.
As scarcity develops and scarcity politics evolve, both
regional and national food and water security are
becoming critical issues that could trigger enhanced
attention to management of shared water resources.
Political development and increases and changes in
water demand occur over time, and the challenge is to
move the two processes forward in an efficient manner
that will not lead to crisis and serious conflict.
Co-ordination of the individual country positions is
efficient but often more theoretical than practical, as it
is resource-demanding and requires well established
mutual trust and confidence between governments—
rarely available in real situations. Conversely,
uncoordinated positions of individual countries based
on scarcity politics, represent more stable responses of
individual countries, given the actions of the other
governments.
With the focus on bridging the capacity gaps between
countries in a basin, treaty-making is critical for
sustainable basin co-operation. Therefore, training
support in aid of treaty-making is a high-priority, highefficiency activity.
The following are some suggestions for practicable
and implementable options towards
successful
management of transboundary water resources,
drawing from the cases presented from such diverse
regions as the Nile and Lake Victoria, Southern Africa,
the Danube and North America:
• recognition of and adaptation to political directions
with capacity to accommodate changes in political
environments;
• establishment or strengthening of management
institutions housed and integrated under existing
regional co-operation frameworks;
• recognition of national policies with the objective of
policy harmonization between States;
• establishment of management and legal capacity to
bring the parties to parity for bilateral and basinwide negotiations; and
• identification and implementation of priority goals
that motivate national level decision-makers, with
the focus on national and regional food and water
security.
^
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Water
in